04/20/2011

They are SO big. Do you fill them with dirt? Oh so heavy.. Do you use plastic peanuts in the bottom? They get very soggy... Do you put a plastic pot inside the terra cotta or ceramic planter? Not a great look...

It's been a "garden problem" for years!

Problem solved. Go on over to Ups-a-Daisy. Mine arrived today, Wednesday after placing my order on Sunday. No extra charge, just fast service! You might also find them at your local garden center; I wasn't able to so ordered on line.

It's an insert. It sits about half way down the pot (measure carefully)...meaning that you then only need to fill the top half (about) of your pot.

Problem solved!

Next up: we have Corian counter tops with the one-piece, molded sinks. It's something I've wanted for years: no seams, no metal pieces, clean looking etc. Only problem is that, for some reason, glasses break very easily! We never had this issue with stainless steel. In addition, the sink slants, every so slightly, toward the center so any glass, especially a wine glass, falls right over on its side.

03/29/2011

" A 1993 Gold Medal Plant Award Winner, Viburnum x burkwoodii 'Mohawk' is loaded with clusters of ornamental dark red flower buds for several weeks before opening in mid to late April to exhibit its showy blossoms and strong, spicy scent. A display of beautiful flowers that last for weeks."

It joined another happy resident: our light pink Camellia "Sasanqua"

(I know, it says "park", but it's in our yard!)

I'm pleased to report that all residents are doing well and seem to be quite happy!

03/20/2011

The weather was beautiful; we went to several local nurseries; went to the G R E A T farmer's market up in Carrboro; and spent a lot of time outside organizing, planting, thinking color.

This is one of the new items I bought "Micro Tip Blades". Fabulous! I was so tired of using the bulky pruning scissors, and always having to search for them to bring inside when I was arranging flowers! What do you have? Do you keep a separate pair inside? These are perfect. Small, precise, easy to store. They even come with that little orange, plastic cover for the tips.

02/27/2011

It all started with a visit to MoMA to see the "Counter Space: Design and the Modern Kitchen" exhibit.

"Counter Space explores the twentieth-century transformation of the kitchen...."

Too many kitchen tools: this could be said today, no?

great looking vacuum cleaner:

After the obligatory, and possibly expensive, visit to the MoMA Shop, it was on to Paper Presentation, which is one of my favorite stores in New York. They have everything ...from all kinds of paper (scrapbook, drawing, wrapping, note cards, invitations etc. etc.) to hundreds of boxes of all kinds and sizes, to stamps, to unusual folded invitations, all customizable, to journals and notebooks, to a wonderful assortment of greeting cards. They're on-line store is extensive, so take a look.

Next, a total change of place and intent. On to Greensboro, N.C. for an all day gardening symposium. There were over 300 people here! Oh my goodness, when they start using, quite comfortably, the Latin names and cultivars I feel I am in over my head! This entire Southern gardening thing is so new....and I have SO much to learn. But this was a good place to start: the friends who invited me are also avid gardeners. Oh what fun to "talk dirt" all day! I can't begin to say how much I learned.

The three presenters were all from Chanticleer Garden in Wayne, Pa. Have you been there? I grew up very near to Wayne, but at that time the house and land was private. It was opened to the public in 1993.

I absolutely MUST go there, and SOON! We saw over 400 photographs of the gardens, showing us the particular plants, shrubs and trees that are the "can't live without" variety as well as being adaptable to this more Southern, warmer climate.

And, there were plants for sale, including this Gardenia below.

I should M U S T have one of these!

And after a trip to our local garden center earlier today, this is part of what came home with me:

11/28/2010

You're kidding, right? It's almost Christmas? Well, you would never know it by looking at my garden in our new house! For those of you who live down South, or in warmer climates...no big deal. But for those of us who come from anywhere North, this is a real treat!

I am really loving how it changes through the seasons and seems to look better as the months go by...

Narcissus? Not sure.

On the left here is the newly scrubbed fence, and on the right what is left after three years of neglect.

Again, you can see the cleaned fence over to the left:

I'm linking up today with Susan at A Southern Daydreamer:

Every other blog has lots to say about Christmas decorating. Well, all my ornaments and decorations, and even my wrapping paper and ribbon, are all packed away. Hope you enjoy this bit of springtime in almost-December.

09/26/2010

Just days before this we had finally made phone contact with Claude. Claude is a very good friend of our very good friends from the Hudson Valley. They met and got to know him when they all lived in San Francisco, several lives ago!

Quoi dire? Claude is a true Parisian; born and bred. He lived in San Francisco where he was part owner and chef of a restaurant; when it closed he moved back to Paris.

Then, there is the restaurant "La Bagatelle", and this is where we met Claude for Sunday lunch. The day was perfect: sun/clouds and just the right temperature for eating outside.

Here's a short history:

Marie-Antoinette waged that the Count of Artois, who had bought this property in 1775, could not turn it into a park in 64 days.

Belanger designed it and Thomas Blaikie built it, to the day’s in-vogue anglo-chinois taste.

Bagatelle park and chateau only barely eluded obliteration during the Revolution, but a string of owners altered them considerably. The orangerie, gates and stables date back to 1835, and the guard’s lodgings were built in 1870, along with the Trianon and the two terraces.

The City of Paris bought this gem in 1905 and entrusted its head gardener, Jean-Claude-Nicolas Forestier, with the restoration work. He set out to turn these gardens into a botanical domain without upsetting the harmony that the existing layout had already established. He turned the subsistence crops into showcases for collections of roses, irises, perennials, clematises, peonies and other flowers.

The well-known Roseraie de Bagatelle (rose bed) which has hosted an international competition every year since 1907, is also the work of his hand.

07/05/2010

Just like everyone else, I had many plans for the holiday weekend. But I'm betting my plans were of a different kind than almost everyone else. At the very heart of my weekend was...MOVING. Yes, I am moving out of my downtown studio/office space. I have to be out by the 15th of July and, thank goodness...., I got started early. It has been so much more time consuming, and I have SO MUCH MORE STUFF, than I had imagined, or accounted for! We go down there every evening to pack some more, throw out some more STUFF, begin to mark CAREFULLY all the USB ports on the computer and modem, take down the shelves with their endless screws, give away some of the furniture....you get the idea.

Here it is torn apart:

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Cleaning out a drawer, I came upon ALL these old credit cards! It felt good to CUT them up...

I've been working on a post "of place": I wanted to show you the above office (before) and all the gadgets and everyday items I use. I'll post those tomorrow!

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That was on Friday. Skip ahead to Saturday morning and I was out in the garden cutting some flowers to bring inside. Delphinium, Lavender, Bee Balm, Daisies and Lythrum. I've never cut my delphinium before: it always seemed too precious to actually cut and bring inside! But it gorgeous and lasts for days and days. The plants are SO tall that some of them have fallen over, and the vines around them have also started to invade, so it was time to clip a few flower stems.

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And finally, something RED WHITE AND BLUE:

What could be better than lobster on July 4th? But the placemats and napkins just make the holiday table!

04/23/2010

In keeping with the season, and because I am in love with garden ornaments, I thought the timing was just right for this post (and besides, I have had more fun researching it!). As a matter of fact, I've had the basic reasearch in my drafts folder for many weeks, just waiting til the time was right. This is it! All gardens everywhere are beginning to look so wonderful and once again my mood (yours too?) is what.....? joyous? playful? optimistic? Yes, that describes it all right.

Here is an assortment of garden goodies, from the very serious, classic accoutrements to the playful, silly, colorful ones. There is truly something for everyone and every garden.

Here is my all time favorite garden "ornament": our rabbit! He was given to us in the Year of the Rabbit, 1999... and has been sitting in the garden since then (with brief intervals indoors in the worst of winter). For the past three years he has also stood watch over the spirit of our dog who used to lie in the grass, facing south, just as the rabbit still does...

This wonderful fleur-de-lis ornament was a gift to me from my friend Ellen...a TOTAL surprise! We had spent the day at Brimfield, and then left in our respective cars. Well, months later, at my birthday party, she surprised me with this! It had stood in a booth of a garden/antique dealer from Missouri...I will be going back this May and will find him again. I DO bring it indoors in the winter to sit by our fireplace.

I want to go... do you live anywhere near it? Please, let us know what your experience has been, what is especially wonderful about it, or what you have bought there.

Aside from selling so many great garden items, they have events i.e. seminars, classes; they have a variety of workshops, like this one on June 10: "Girls Night Outdoors: Herb Cocktails"! Want to join me for that one? Or how about: "Children and Pet Friendly Gardening". The website also has recipes, tons of pictures of what's for sale for garden and home, and then the Cafe where they post a menu.

Each fall I pour over the catalogs. It's the color, of course, that grabs my attention. I buy at least 100 bulbs every year. And, what's more, each spring after the tulips have bloomed, I dig up each and every one! No repeats for me.. They are never the same the next year, you can't possibly know where they are going to pop up again, and it's difficult, if not impossible, to garden around them all summer. Much easier to dig them up (it's very satisfying!) and start fresh in the fall. That way I know exactly which color combination I have put in which garden...

Here is a sampling of this year's crop in the front of our house. I wasn't sure about orange but now I am positive: it works beautifully! And it's even better combined with that deep magenta.

01/25/2010

It's January: it's winter, it's dark and there is no color, right? Wrong!
Here is what I found yesterday at my local farm/garden market. Moral of this story: always carry your camera!

These below were my absolute favorites: from Italy. The colors, the graphics and even the SIZE of the package is fabulous. As designers, we are always told to remember the color on the shelf: that is a large part of what sells a product. And here it couldn't be truer. Now, also, take a look at the contemporary graphics: the veggie icons are, quite literally, outside the box. In each case, they extend outside an inner box, and also bleed off an edge or two. Scroll down to see some seed packets from the 1930's: we've come a long way, baby!

I had bought a huge collection of these at Brimfield

And they became a set of dessert plates! (combined with crate labels)

How about these gourds? I had never seen anything like this! Great idea for some craft projects....

Moving right along down the aisles: even the accoutrements of gardening are colorful!

And finally, for a totally different take on color: some neutral cachepots.

01/21/2010

This post is for PillowMint! You will have to go to her blog and read the comment section, and her post, on "Do You" to follow this entire story!

Here you go: THIS is my wonderful indoor palm plant, after receiving tender loving care for almost twenty years! Naturally, I did not have a picture of it in its early, pathetic stages; and in fact, I had trouble even finding a picture of any palm that looked as scraggly and pathetic as the one we bought and that was kept in captivity in my husband's office!

I searched for an image of the original, and this is the closest I could come:(it looks much too healthy!)

But plants are essential in our house...I now have the 7 ft. palm in the top image, and I bring in a few geraniums for the winter. They thrive in an east facing bay window. Here they were this morning:

Last, but not least, are three little bulbs in a row. These are Paperwhite Narcissus Bulbs. I want to direct you to a wonderful gardening blog
from Margaret Roach. Her advice is great and always with a bit of
humor, her photographs are extraordinary, and the entire blog just well
done!

Do YOU have plant stories? Things that grew, unexpectedly? Or didn't make it, much to your amazement and chagrin? What works for you?

12/26/2009

If you remember, I did a post on afarm project in Concord, Mass.(Dec. 11, 2009) called Gaining Ground. I just received their new cookbook for Christmas and am busy planning which recipes to try first!

This is a beautiful book! and can be purchased through Gaining Ground.Everything in here is, I am betting, just as good as this picture! The design of the book: the layout, the type, the organization, the sidebar information, and of course the recipes are all superb. Scroll down to see what I made today....

This is what I wanted to try first. We just finished our first servings, and yes, it is very very good...

There's a Chocolate Bread Pudding I think I'll make to take to a New Year's Day annual party....

12/11/2009

To step away from all the holiday hoopla, just for a moment, let's focus on another local, hand crafted subject: food. This time it is the planning, planting, growing, tending, harvesting and ultimately, the giving, of food.

Gaining Groundfarm is in Concord, Mass. and was recently visited by Alice Waters. This farm is very, very unusual, and is very successful...with five employees and hundreds of volunteers, it grows AND gives away all its food. The farm's mission is "to provide free fresh fruits and vegetables to those who can least afford them."

Now, to be totally up front about this story, I have to tell you: my brother is the Treasurer of said organization and has worked the farm, in many and various capacities, for many years. He is truly one of its biggest fans and supporters! Here are just a few of his pictures of the farm and activities there:

11/18/2009

I have a special part of my garden set aside for dahlias.... not just any dahlias, but the tall kind with dark red flowers and dark green leaves. These dahlias have come down in my famiily: yes, these very same tubers are the descendents of dahlias grown both in Maine and Philadelphia! Each fall, after the first frost, they are very carefully prepared for their winter "sleep". This process can vary a bit: sometimes they are surrounded by peat moss, some years by garden dirt, some years almost bare.. and then put either in a dry attic, or temperate shed, or basement. And, sometimes, in the spring when I go to wake them up, the tubers have turned to mush...not quite sure why this happens some years, and not in others. Does anyone have hints on wintering dahlias? Any particular varieties that you like?

11/04/2009

It's November 4th and I STILL have flowers outside! Well, maybe I cheated a little, in that I have babied this pot: brought it inside for the few nights of frost, make sure it gets maximum sun etc. Still....... how nice!

And here, one last delphinium along the fence!

This lucky geranium I had brought in about a month ago. It sits in a bay window in my dining room, facing East so gets hours of morning sun each day. I usually cut them way....back when I bring them in, feed every few weeks, and by Christmas have lots of blooms. This one was too gorgeous to cut back!

08/31/2009

I know, I know, I should be writing about something French today, but I just had to post these pictures! These are hydrangeas from my Mother's garden outside of Boston. While the white is not my first choice (I just love them in blue), I do think these are wonderful for the color variations: from pure white, to celery, to cream.

Did you know that 'hydrangea' in French is 'hortensia'? So, our woman's name, Hortense (yes, I know, it is old-fashioned and you don't hear it anymore) means this beautiful, versatile flower!

08/04/2009

Well, this is truly the very first Clematis flower I have had! I planted this very small plant over two years ago, almost dug it up entirely after a big snow storm last winter, and have been nursing it ever since. As you can see, I put this wonderful old rusted trellis behind it, and both are against a high wooden fence. Didn't really think I'd see any flower until next spring/summer!

And then, much to my amazement, I realized, YOU CAN TEACH AN OLD DOG NEW TRICKS! I have been frustrated with my digital camera in that I wasn't able to zoom in very close to an object: it would get fuzzy if I came in more than about three feet. Well, I finally got out the direction booklet, and realized 'ah yes' there is a button right there to enable close-up zooming.... in fact, within three inches! So, voila, I am set. No need for a new camera I guess!